U.S.A v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 12 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 09-2279.,09-2279.
• Citation: 598 F.3d 340
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America,Plaintiff-Appellee, V. Lee Anton JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant. Peter M. Jarosz, Rita M. Rumbelow (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Madison, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellee. Reed Cornia (argued), Cornia Law, LLC, Madison, WI, for Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

598 F.3d 340

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, V. Lee Anton JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant. Peter M. Jarosz, Rita M. Rumbelow (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Madison, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellee. Reed Cornia (argued), Cornia Law, LLC, Madison, WI, for Defendant-Appellant.

No. 09-2279.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Jan. 22, 2010.

Decided March 12, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Before RIPPLE and ROVNER, Circuit Judges, and ST. EVE, District Judge.¹

ST. EVE, District Judge.

On March 9, 2008, police found a gun in a computer case belonging to Defendant Lee Anton Jackson, who had prior felony convictions. A grand jury subsequently returned an indictment charging Defendant Jackson with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). After Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea, the district court sentenced Defendant to 120 months in prison. On appeal, Defendant Jackson challenges the search of the computer case and the district court's denial of his requests to (1) pursue an "innocent possession" defense and (2) apply Guidelines Section 5K2.11. We affirm the district court in all respects.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

In early 2008, Madison, Wisconsin Police Department officers suspected that individuals were engaging in fencing at a strip mall located at 1900 South Park Street in Madison. Defendant Jackson, who has prior felony convictions, was one of the suspects. Police officers, including David Dexheimer, had previously interacted with Defendant and his mother, DaFondeau Eaton, and Eaton had complained about Madison police officers to certain city officials. Like Defendant Jackson, Eaton is a convicted felon.

As part of the Madison Police Department's investigation of the Park Streetstrip mall, in the early evening of March 9 2008, Officer Dexheimer and Officer Steven Chvala were conducting surveillance of the strip mall. Officer Dexheimer was parked behind the strip mall, while Officer Chvala was parked nearby. At around 7:00 p.m., officers observed a car that was registered to Defendant Jackson pull into the strip mall parking lot, and Officer Dexheimer radioed to Officer Chvala that Jackson was a suspect in the investigation.

At around 8:15 p.m., a woman drove into the parking lot, got out of her car, and approached Defendant's car. After he received the license plate and a description of the driver from Officer Chvala, Officer Dexheimer reported that the car belonged to Eaton, who matched the description of the driver and who did not possess a valid driver's license. Police observed Defendant give Eaton a black computer case walk with Eaton to her car, and embrace Eaton. Eaton then drove out of the parking lot with the case.

Officer Dexheimer followed Eaton, intending to stop her for operating a vehicle with a revoked license and because he wanted to see what the case contained. Officer Dexheimer pulled Eaton over, ex plained to Eaton that he stopped her because she was driving without a license and asked Eaton what she had done at the strip mall. Eaton told Officer Dexheimer that Defendant Jackson had let her borrow his computer so that she could download certain pictures of her grandchild. Officer Dexheimer then asked if he could look at the case, and Eaton agreed, even though— unbeknownst to the police—Defendant had purportedly told her not to allow anyone to open the computer. Eaton handed Officer Dexheimer the case without limiting her consent to search the case or computer.²

Officer Dexheimer then removed the computer from the case and opened the computer with Eaton's assistance, attempting to find the serial number. When Officer Dexheimer could not find the serial number, he unzipped an exterior pocket on the computer case and found a handgun. Eaton also saw the gun and proclaimed— credibly, according to the magistrate judge who presided over the suppression hearing—that she had no idea that the gun was there. Officer Dexheimer then radioed news of the gun to Officer Chvala, who— along with several other officers—arrested Defendant. Defendant gave a statementto officers at the time of his arrest. Defendant Jackson subsequently was indicted on April 28, 2008, on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendant filed a motion ("Motion") to suppress Defendant's post-arrest statement and all evidence that the police had obtained as a result of searching the computer case. After holding a suppression hearing, the magistrate judge issued an eleven-page Report and Recommendation finding that the search of the computer case was constitutional, and recommending that the district court deny the Motion.

After the magistrate judge issued his Report and Recommendation but before the district court ruled on it, the government informed Defendant Jackson that it would not use Defendant's post-arrest statement at trial. Defendant's counsel then informed the district court that he was not objecting to the magistrate judge's recommendation to deny suppression of Defendant's post-arrest statement due to the government's intention to not use it. The district court adopted the Report and Recommendation and denied the Motion in its entirety.

Defendant also filed a motion to present evidence and to instruct the jury on his proposed defense of "innocent possession." The district court denied that motion "because the court of appeals does not recognize an innocent possession defense to a § 922(g) charge" and, even if it did, "defendant's proffered facts do not fit with the court of appeals' dicta on the limits of such a defense." (Nov. 12, 2008, Op. & Order at 1.)

Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motions to suppress and to present a defense. At sentencing, Defendant argued for application of Guidelines Section 5K2.11 because, he argued, Congress did not seek to prohibit his conduct in enacting Section 922. The district court declined to apply Section 5K2.11, granted the government's motion brought pursuant to Section 5K1.1, and sentenced Defendant to 120 months' imprisonment, (50 months below the lower-end of the applicable advisory Guidelines range.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We apply a dual standard of review to a district court's denial of a suppression motion: the Court reviews legal conclusions de novo and findings of fact for clear error. United States v. Huddleston, 593 F.3d 596, 600 (7th Cir.2010); United States v. James, 571 F.3d 707, 713 (7th Cir.2009); United States v. Groves, 530 F.3d 506, 509 (7th Cir.2008); United States v. Tyler, 512 F.3d 405, 409 (7th Cir.2008) ("Historical facts are reviewed for clear error, and 'due weight' deference is given 'to [the] inferences drawn from those facts by resident judges and local law enforcement officers.' " (quoting Ornelas v. United States 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 1663, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996), with brackets in original)). " 'Because the resolution of a motion to suppress is a fact-specific inquiry, we give deference to credibility determinations of the district court, who had the opportunity to listen to testimony and observe the witnesses at the suppression hearing.' " Groves, 530 F.3d at 510 (quoting United States v. Hendrix, 509 F.3d 362, 373 (7th Cir.2007)); see also United States v. Bernitt, 392 F.3d 873, 878 (7th Cir.2004). "A factual finding is clearly erroneous only if, after considering all the evidence, we cannot avoid or ignore a 'definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.'" United States v. Burnside, 588 F.3d 511, 517 (7th Cir.2009) (quoting United States v. Marshall, 157 F.3d 477, 480-81 (7th Cir.1998)).

We review de novo a district court's refusal to allow a defendant's theory of defense and the corresponding jury instruction. See United States v. Kilgore, 591 F.3d 890, 893 (7th Cir.2010); United States v. Canady, 578 F.3d 665, 672 (7th Cir.2009); United States v. Prude, 489 F.3d 873, 882 (7th Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Eberhart, 467 F.3d 659, 666 (7th Cir.2006)).

"A defendant is entitled to a jury instruction as to his or her particular theory of defense provided: (1) the instruction presents an accurate statement of the law; (2) the instruction reflects a theory that is supported by the evidence; (3) the instruction reflects a theory which is not already part of the charge; and (4) the failure to include the instruction would deny the appellant a fair trial."

Prude, 489 F.3d at 882 (quoting Eberhart, 467 F.3d at 666); see also Canady, 578 F.3d at 672.

Finally, "[w]e review the reasonableness of a sentence under an abuse-ofdiscretion standard." United States v. Poetz, 582 F.3d 835, 837 (7th Cir.2009) (citing Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 128 S.Ct. 586, 591, 597, 169 L.Ed.2d 445 (2007)). "A below-guidelines sentence, like a within-guidelines one, is presumed reasonable against a defendant's challenge that it is too high." Poetz, 582 F.3d at 837 (citing United States v. Liddell, 543 F.3d 877, 885 (7th Cir.2008), United States v. Wallace, 531 F.3d 504, 507 (7th Cir.2008) ("We have never deemed a below-range sentence to be unreasonably high."), and United States v. George, 403 F.3d 470, 473 (7th Cir.2005) ("It is hard to conceive of below-range sentences that would be unreasonably high.")). "Although '[t]he concept of departures has been rendered obsolete in post-Booker sentencing... the district court may apply those departure guidelines by way of analogy in analyzing the section 3553(a) factors.'" United States v. Schroeder, 536 F.3d 746, 756 (7th Cir.2008) (quoting United States v. Miranda, 505 F.3d 785, 792 (7th Cir.2007)).

ANALYSIS

Defendant makes three arguments on appeal: (1) the district court should have suppressed evidence obtained from Officer Dexheimer's search because (a) Eaton did not have actual or apparent authority to search the computer bag, and (b) even if she did, Officer Dexheimer...